When an unprecedented hurricane devastates the city of Houston, Noah Mishner finds shelter in the Dallas Mavericks' basketball arena. Though he finds community among other queer refugees, Noah fears his trans and Jewish identities put him at risk with certain "capital-T" Texans. His fears take form when he starts seeing visions of his great-grandfather Abe, who fled Nazi Germany as a boy. As the climate crisis intensifies and conditions in the shelter deteriorate, Abe's ghost grows more powerful. Ultimately, Noah must decide whether he can trust his ancestor - and whether he's willing to sacrifice his identity and community in order to survive. Depart, Depart! grapples with intersections of social justice and climate change, asking readers to consider how they'll react when the world changes in an instant. Who will we turn to? What will we take with us, and what will we have to leave behind? In our rapidly changing world, these are questions we grapple with. Focusing on finding and supporting community after disaster, Depart, Depart! is a story for these uncertain times."Texas is shaken by an apocalyptic flood in Kern's tense, entrancing debut novella. Noah, a trans man, takes refuge in a Dallas basketball arena-turned-relief shelter, rubbing shoulders with the full spectrum of Texas society, from members of the Austin queer community to conservative good ol' boys. Noah finds his place with Elena, a trans woman, and nonbinary Malone as the shelter residents band together in small groups to help one another. Noah is also visited by a ghostly boy, Abe, who he believes to be the spirit of his great grandfather, who delivers warnings and doles out advice. Noah struggles in a world without privacy, grapples with his complex relationship with his Jewish identity, and, as tensions rise between factions and conditions in the arena deteriorate, his loyalty to his newfound friends is tested. Noah faces the same choice his great-grandfather once wrestled with: to save himself or die helping his friends. With high stakes and a solid emotional core, and a perfect balance of speculation and an all-too-real vision of climate apocalypse, Kern shows the necessity of compassion, empathy, and community in the face of crisis." ★Publishers Weekly starred review“Kern’s debut novella takes climate change and makes it personal. Readers will root hard for Noah and his found family to survive the crisis they’re facing, but Noah’s internal journey proves to be just as compelling. This book is a ghost story, but it’s a love story too: to the queer community, to those we’ve lost, and all we stand to lose if we don’t take drastic action. Kern’s prose is tremendously effective and will both break your heart and offer hope.” Chicago Review of Books"Depart, Depart! grabbed me from its first, tense page. Noah's story of losing and finding community amid disaster, guided by the unreliable ghost of a traumatized ancestor, is too compelling to put down. Kern's writing is fierce and fearless, equally dextrous with portraying apocalyptic climate change or the joy of a queer dance floor when a DJ starts spinning Beyoncé. I'd say this novella isn't for the faint of heart, but it's for all of us trapped in unraveling situations, facing the seemingly intractable binary of being safe and alone, or vulnerable but together." Nino Cipri, World Fantasy Award Finalist, and author of Homesick and Finna

Depart, Depart!

Literature & Fiction

Kern, Sim

Genre Fiction

Stelliform Press

Dragons were fire and terror to the Western world, but in the East they brought life-giving rain. Now, no longer hailed as gods and struggling in the overheated pollution of Beijing, only the Eastern dragons survive. As drought plagues the aquatic creatures, a mysterious disease-shaolong, or "burnt lung"-afflicts the city's human inhabitants. 
Jaded college student Xiang Kaifei scours Beijing streets for abandoned dragons, distracting himself from his diagnosis. Elijah Ahmed, a biracial American medical researcher, is drawn to Beijing by the memory of his grandmother and her death by shaolong. Interest in Beijing's dragons leads Kai and Eli into an unlikely partnership. With the resources of Kai's dragon rescue and Eli's immunology research, can the pair find a cure for shaolong and safety for the dragons? Eli and Kai must confront old ghosts and hard truths if there is any hope for themselves or the dragons they love. 
After the Dragons is a tender story, for readers interested in the effects of climate change on environments and people, but who don’t want a grim, hopeless read. Beautiful and challenging, focused on hope and care, this novel navigates the nuances of changing culture in a changing world.

After the Dragons

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Zhang, Cynthia

Fantasy

“Cade’s strength shines in her beautiful descriptions … This thoughtful work is a reminder of humanity’s connection and responsibility to the natural world.” — Publishers Weekly 
“Uncanny, unsettling, brilliant, etcetera; as well as the thylacines there are jellyfish, robots, rock wrens, rats, and a new kind of psychological devastation that flourishes and evolves as everything else collapses. Called simply “Grief”, it is contagious, and hard to spot, and it feels like a creature that’s already here.” — Catherine Woulfe, The Spinoff Book Report 
In a dying world, grief has a life of its own ... 
With the collapse of ecosystems and the extinction of species comes the Grief: an unstoppable melancholia that ends in suicide. When Ruby’s friend, mourning the loss of the Great Barrier Reef, succumbs to the Grief, the letters she leaves behind reveal the hidden world of the resurrected dead. The Tasmanian tiger, brought back from extinction in an isolated facility, is only the first … but rebirth is not always biological, and it comes with a price. As a scientist, Ruby resists the Grief by focusing her research on resilient jellyfish, but she can’t avoid choosing which side she’s on. How can she fight against the dead and the forces behind them when doing so risks her home, her life, and the entire biosphere?

The Impossible Resurrection of Grief

Cade, Octavia

Science Fiction

Review\n"Mombauer's eerie, disorienting debut novella explores the haunting consequences of climate change and colonial greed. ... At once climate fiction and gothic horror, Mombauer's mosaic tale manages to convey a powerful message without ever feeling preachy, painting a picture of a house that is more than just haunted. Readers will be captivated."⁠- Publishers Weekly"An eerie blend of myth and ghost story; the kind of haunting read that will linger with you long after the last page."- A.C. Wise, Bram Stoker Award Finalist\n“Mombauer’s eerie, disorienting debut novella explores the haunting consequences of climate change and colonial greed. … At once climate fiction and gothic horror, Mombauer’s mosaic tale manages to convey a powerful message without ever feeling preachy, painting a picture of a house that is more than just haunted. Readers will be captivated.” 
— Publishers Weekly 
“An eerie blend of myth and ghost story; the kind of haunting read that will linger with you long after the last page.” 
— A.C. Wise, Bram Stoker Award Finalist 
A HAUNTED HOUSE FOR THE CLIMATE CHANGE ERA. 
On the island of Sri Lanka, at a colonial mansion between the forest and the paddy fields, a caretaker arrives with four children in tow after pledging to keep them safe. When violent thugs storm the house demanding that Ushu repay his debt, young Jasmit and the other children hide in an upstairs bathroom where a running tap opens a gateway to escape. But the Dry House is not the only force at work in the place where the forest and the estate meet-something else stirs in the trees, something ancient, something that demands retribution. 
The Sap Mother bides her time, watching and learning from the house's inhabitants. She burrows beneath the foundations of the Dry House, hungry for atonement. Pulled between these warring powers, Jasmit must choose between saving those trapped in the mansion's bulging stomachs and preparing the house for when the Mother emerges again.

The House of Drought

Mombauer, Dennis

Seeds for the Swarm

Teen & Young Adult

A NOVELLA-LENGTH EXPANSION OF THE 2020 THEODORE STURGEON MEMORIAL AWARD WINNER 
A professor in pandemic isolation rescues books from the flooded and collapsing McPherson Library. A man plants fireweed on the hillside of his depopulated Vancouver Island suburb. An aspiring luthier poaches the last ancient Sitka spruce to make a violin for a child prodigy. Campbell’s astonishing vision pulls the echoing effects of small acts and intimate moments through this multi-generational and interconnected story of how a West coast community survives the ravages of climate change.

Arboreality

CAMPBELL, REBECCA

Literary

Weird Fishes

Mariz, Rae

“Condé’s brutal, mystical, and deeply felt speculative debut lifts up a vision of Indigenous resistance and renewal in the face of climate change and colonizers. … The author’s depiction of Taíno culture is profound, his evocative images of a land in ruin are visceral, and the grief and sheer determination expressed through his characters is often so vivid as to be overwhelming. The result is a beautiful blend of futurism and magical realism that delivers a hopeful message of human resilience.” — ★ Publishers Weekly starred review 
Vero has always felt at odds with his community. As a trans man in near-future Puerto Rico, he struggles to gain acceptance for his identity and his vision of an inclusive society. After a hurricane decimates the island and Puerto Rico is abandoned by the United States, Vero leaves his home to petition the centralized government for aid and seek the truth about new colonists arriving on the island. But in the Yucatan, Vero finds a landscape ravaged by an ecological disaster of humanity’s own making—the Hydrophage, a climate technology warped into a weapon of war and released onto the land by the dictator Caudillo. Amidst the destruction, Vero finds both desperation and hope for regrowth as he documents the lives of the survivors. Details about the colonists’ intentions emerge when Vero meets the Loba Roja, an anti-Caudillo revolutionary who imagines the renewed power of the Maya. Intrigued by her vision of the future and her unapologetic violence, Vero is faced with life-changing questions: can an Indigenous resurgence protect his beloved island? And what must he sacrifice to support it?\n“Condé gives us a clear-eyed, optimistic vision of how storytelling can transcend borders and create solidarity among resistance movements. … With great respect for history and heritage, identity and environment, Sordidez depicts the future hurtling toward us, as well as the courage we’ll need to meet that future head-on.” — Lisa M. Bradley, author of The Haunted Girl and Exile

Sordidez

Condé, E.G.

United States

"The sparse but evocative worldbuilding of Ulibarri’s brilliant solarpunk debut underpins a guarded optimism about the human condition. ... With an incisive exploration of postcapitalist, back to basics living and characters readers will root for, this perfectly balances big ideas and big emotions." — ★ Publishers Weekly starred review 
"Sarena Ulibarri’s sun-drenched story of reincarnation, resilience, and renewal truly shines, granting us a convincing solarpunk future full of hope that another life could one day be ours." — Lauren C. Teffeau, author of Implanted "With Another Life, Ulibarri has given us a gift: a gentle, humane, and hopeful vision of our future. I want to live in Otra Vida!" — Ian Tregillis, author of The Mechanical\n"Painting a hopeful vision of a postcapitalist future, Ulibarri's debut solarpunk novella, Another Life, is a masterpiece of minimalist worldbuilding with incredible emotional impact." — Justine Norton-Kertson, Solarpunk Magazine editor-in-chief\nFinding out who you were in a previous life sounds like fun until you’re forced to grapple with the darkness of the past. Galacia Aguirre is Mediator of Otra Vida, a quasi-utopian city on the shores of a human-made lake in Death Valley. She resolves conflicts within their sustainable money-free society, and keeps the outside world from meddling in their affairs. When a scientific method of uncovering past lives emerges, Galacia learns she’s the reincarnation of Thomas Ramsey, leader of the Planet B movement, who eschewed fixing climate change in favor of colonizing another planet. Learning her reincarnation result shakes the foundations of Galacia’s identity and her position as Mediator, threatening to undermine the good she’s done in this lifetime. Fearing a backlash, she keeps the results secret while dealing with her political rival for Mediator, and outsiders who blame Otra Vida for bombings that Galacia is sure they had nothing to do with. But under the unforgiving sun of Death Valley, secrets have a way of coming to light.

Another Life

Ulibarri, Sarena

The Jaguar Mask

DeLuca, Michael J.

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